"A version that has been long awaited, and likely to become the new standard."—Washington PostOvid's epic poem—whose theme of change has resonated throughout the ages—is one of the most important texts of Western imagination, an inspiration from Dante's times to the present day, when writers such as Salman Rushdie and Italo Calvino have found a living source in Ovid's work. Charles Martin combines a close fidelity to Ovid's text with verse that catches the speed and liveliness of the original. Martin's Metamorphoses will be the translation of choice for contemporary readers in English. This volume also includes endnotes and a glossary of people, places, and personifications. "Martin's complete text is clearly something to look forward to with high expectations."—Bernard Knox, The New York Review of Books "A reader who wants to understand Ovid's poem as a whole, as well as to learn its many famous stories, will find Mr. Martin's clarity and tact invaluable."—The New York Sun "Smoothly readable, accurate, charming, subtle yet clear....A lucidly fluent version of this most flowing of poems."—Richard Wilbur